harland



Jan. 24, 1956 P.'W. HARLAND 2,732,105

ANCHORING DEVICES FOR BOTTLE CLOSURES Filed Dec. 2. 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l *1- 3 fi g A 32 9 4 j FIG. 3

25 :I j 2 2o INVENTOR. PfiI/I hlhar/arm BY i ATTORNEY Jan. 24, 1956 P. w. HARLAND 2,732,106

ANCHORING DEVICES FOR BOTTLECLOSURES Filed Dec. 2. 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ,4O INVENTOR.

P/i/l'lp W Har/and FIG. 6 7 BY he C ATTORNEY United States Patent ANCHORING DEVICES FOR BOTTLE CLOSURES Philip W. Harland, Quakertown, Pa., assignor to Ameri' can Machine and Metals, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application December 2, 1950, Serial No. 198,848

9 Claims. (Cl. 222-561) The invention relates to an improvement in devices for anchoring a bottle closure to a bottle. The invention is adapted to close bottles of wine or liquors by anchoring the closure to the inside of the bottle beyond the neck.

This anchoring device is well adapted for use with bottle closures used with Bottle Supports for Liquid Dispensing Apparatus-shown in the application of Robert W. Woodward, filed on November 12, 1948, Serial No. 59,591, now Patent No. 2,559,815.

The present invention positively holds the member which expands the retaining fingers in place and thus prevents the accidental or the intentional release of the anchorage from the bottle by jarring.

This type of bottle closure anchorage is well adapted for use with dispensing'devices used on bars in hotels where the wine steward who is provided with a necessary key, unlocks the slide which closes the discharge passage in the closure of an empty bottle, removes the closure from the empty bottle which is then discarded, removes the cork from a fresh wine bottle, inserts the closure in the neck of the bottle in place of the cork, expands the internal anchorage fingers which holds the closure to the bottle, and then closes the slide which forms a part of the bottle closure and which cannot be opened except by the use of a key or by inserting the bottle and its closure in a dispensing device of the type described in the pending application of Woodward referred to above.

The bartender is not provided with a key for opening the slide, so he can only mount the inverted bottle with this closure in the dispensing mechanism. When so mounted, the slide can be opened but the contents of the bottle now flow through the measuring dispenser which keeps a check on the bartender by providing a record of the quantity discharged. Likewise, since the slide must be removed to close the passage into the bottle before it is removed from the measuring dispenser, the bartender is not able to refill the bottle with a substitute.

One object of the invention is to provide a bottle closure attached to the bottle by fingers which are expanded outward within the neck of the bottle by a cone which 'may be positively held in the position which locks the fingers against the inside wall of the bottle.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a device in which the fingers are formed on a stamped sheet which is then formed into a cylinder so that the fingers will engage the cone.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a device in which the expanding cone may be moved to a locking position and held there by means located within the discharge passage.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a cone having flanges at one end which prevents the cone from falling to the bottom of the bottle and a flange at the other end to prevent accidental movement of the cone beyond its working limits.

Fig. 1 shows in vertical elevation a section of the bottle closure about to be attazhed to a bottle by the tool.

1Fig. 2 shows the bottle closure in elevation, locked in p ace.

Fig. 3 is an elevation of the expanding cone and the bolt which moves the cone, partly in section, drawn to a larger scale.

Fig. 4 is a top view of the bolt shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 shows a modification of the cylinder with the fingers shown in section.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the stamping from which this cylinder and the fingers are formed.

Fig. 7 is an end view of the stamping shown in Fig. 6 after the ends have been formed into fingers projecting at right angles to the stamping.

1 generally indicates a bottle closure which is adapted to be locked to the bottle 2.

This bottle closure may consist of a molded body 3 comprising part 9 and a part 19 fastened together in such a manner as to leave a slot, through which a slide or valve 5 passes. A cylindrical tubular metal insert 4 is molded into the body 3 and this forms the discharge passage for the contents of the bottle. A handle 6 permits moving the slide 5 when it is not locked in position. The slide has an opening 7 and liquid may be poured from the bottle only when this opening is in line with the passage 8. This closure may be of the type shown in the Woodward application referred to. A tube 10 extends into the passage 8 and is fastened to the metal insert 4 by a screw thread or a welding, or in any desired manner. A conical compressible ring 11 of a size to fit the bottle surrounds the outside of the tube 10 and forms a seal with the mouth of the bottle. In the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2 a metal collar 12 is attached to the end of the tube by welding or brazing and the tube and the collar are then slotted as shown at 13 so that the lower end of the tube 10 consists of six or more flexible fingers 14, each of which has attached to its lower end a portion of the ring 12.

These fingers support the cone 20. This cone has a neck 21 at its smaller end surrounded by a flange 22 projecting outward. Two fingers 25 extend outward and upwardly from this flange. At its other end the cone has an annular groove 27. The cone is drilled axially and ,threaded and the threaded rod 30 passes through the threaded bore of the cone. As shown in Figs. 3 and 4 the rod 30 carries a cross arm 31 at its upper end and this cross arm supports the circular ring 32. The outer diameter of this ring is somewhat smaller than the diameter of the passage 8. As shown in Fig. 1 this ring is adapted to bear against the upper edge of the tube 10. When the fingers are not distorted, the portions of the ring 12 carried by the fingers 14 extend inward far enough to enter the neck 21 of the cone. The cone 20 is thus supported to prevent it from falling down into the bottle. By inserting a tool 33 having two prongs 34 which are adapted to be inserted in the segmental openings 35 in the ring 32 the bolt 30 may be turned when the slide 5 is in such a position that the opening 7 is in line with the passage 8.

By turning the tool 33, the cone 20 may be drawn upward toward the upper end of the tube 10. The expanding sides of the cone, as shown in Fig. 2, will new force the fingers outward into contactwith the sides of the bottle at a portion 36 of the bottle where it is wider than at the neck 37. The ears 25 are rigidly attached to the cone 26 previously described and extend into two of the spaces between the fingers 14 as shown in Fig. 2. These ears 25 thus prevent the friction of the bolt 30as it is turned in cone from turning the cone itselfv as the bolt is drawn up. g n v After the fingers are expanded and the closure is locked shown in 2. This slide, as explained in the pending application of Woodward previously referred to, may be provided with locking mechanism that prevents pushing the slide back unless the closure and the bottle have been mounted on a dispensing stand which records the number of charges taken from the bottle.

The groove 27 is provided so that if the cone is drawn up too far the flange 29 will bear against the lower end of the fingers 12 as seen in Fig. l and thus prevent the cone from being drawn up further.

In the modification shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7, the tube 10 is formed from a fiat piece of metal 22. Parallel slots 13 are punched leaving fingers 14 between the slots. The piece 22 is then placed in the forming die which forms the end of all of the fingers 14 in the manner shown in Fig. 7 with a tip 40 projecting normal to the rest of the fingers and a curved portion 2-4 of the fingers 14 projecting in the opposite direction. The sheet 22 is now rolled into the cylinder as shown in Fig. with the finger tips 40 projecting inward.

When using this device either with the cylinder 10 shown in Fig. 1 or the modification shown in Fig. 5, the steward moves the slide 5 into the position shown in Fig. 1, inserts the tool 1 into the space 35 shown in Fig. 4 and turns the threaded stem 30. Since the fingers 25 project into the spaces between fingers 14, the cone cannot revolve. Therefore the cone is drawn upward in Fig. 1. As the cone is drawn upwards the portions 12 of the ring or the tips 40 of the fingers as shown in Fig. 7, spring the finger 14 until a position such as that shown in Fig. 2 is reached when its outside of the finger will bear against the inner wall of the bottle at a point where the bottle is wider than it is at the neck. When the slide 5 has been slid back, the bottle closure cannot be removed by an unauthorized person without breaking the bottle.

I claim:

1. A bottle closure comprising, in combination, a body adapted to be seated in the throat of a bottle, said body having a central discharge passage therethrough, a plurality of spring fingers extending downward from said body and whose ends can readily pass through the throat of the bottle, a cone bearing against said fingers, said cone having a threaded hole therein, a threaded stud fitting said threaded hole for supporting said cone at a fixed distance from said body and extending down through said central passage, a head on said stud bearing against said body, and means for turning said stud in said cone to change the position of the cone relative to said fingers whereby the ends of the fingers are spread into a circle having a larger circumference than the throat of the bottle.

2. A bottle closure comprising, in combination, a body adapted to be seated in the throat of a bottle, said body having a central discharge passage therethrough, a plurality of spring fingers extending downward from said body and whose ends can readily pass through the throat of the bottle, a cone bearing against said fingers, said cone having a threaded hole therein, a threaded stud fitting said threaded hole for supporting said cone at a fixed distance from said body and extending down through said central passage and a perforate head on said stud bearing against a seat in said passage, and means for turning said stud in said cone to change the position of the cone relative to said fingers whereby the ends of the fingers are spread into a circle having a larger circumference than the throat of the bottle.

3. A bottle closure comprising, in combination, a body adapted to be seated in the throat of a bottle, said body having a central discharge passage therethrough, a plurality of spring fingers extending downward from said body and whose ends can readily pass through the throat of the bottle, a cone having a throat at its smaller end into which said fingers enter, said cone having a threaded hole therein, a threaded stud fitting said threaded hole for supporting said cone at a fixed distance from said body and extending down through said passage, a perforate head on said stud bearing against a seat in said passage, and means for turning said stud in said cone to change the position of the cone relative to said fingers whereby the ends of the fingers are spread into a circle having a larger circumference than the throat of the bottle.

4. A bottle closure comprising, in combination, a body adapted to be seated in the throat of a bottle, said body having a central discharge passage therethrough, a plurality of spring fingers extending downward from said body and whose ends can readily pass through the throat of the bottle, a cone bearing against said fingers, said cone having a threaded hole therein, a threaded stud fitting said threaded hole for supporting said cone at a fixed distance from said body and extending down through said central passage, means for turning said stud in said cone to change the position of the cone relative to said fingers whereby the ends of the fingers are spread into a circle having a larger circumference than the throat of the bottle, and a slide in said body adapted to close said passage to prevent access to turn said stud.

5. A bottle closure comprising, in combination, a body adapted to be seated in the throat of a bottle, said body having a central discharge passage therethrough, a plurality of spring fingers extending downward from said body and whose ends can readily pass through the throat of the bottle, a cone having a groove near its large end into which the ends of said fingers may enter to prevent further movement of said cone, said cone having a threaded hole therein, a threaded stud fitting said threaded hole for supporting said cone at a fixed distance from said body and extending down through said central passage, a perforate head on said stud bearing against a seat in said passage, and means for turning said stud in said cone to change the position of the cone relative to said fingers whereby the ends of the fingers are spread into a circle having a larger circumference than the throat of the bottle and limited by said groove if the ends of the fingers have not sooner engaged the bottle wall.

6. A closure for a bottle having a neck comprising, in combination, an annular stopper having an opening and adapted to be seated in the mouth of a bottle, a metallic body fitted into the opening of said annular stopper and having a plurality of fingers extending downward into the bottle, a cone bearing against the sides of said fingers, means for supporting said cone inside of said bottle at a predetermined distance from said annular stopper, and means for changing the position of the cone relative to the ends of said fingers whereby the cone will cause the ends of the fingers to spread out inside of the bottle below the neck thus preventing the annular stop per from being drawn out of the mouth of the bottle.

7. A closure for a bottle having a tapering neck comprising, in combination, an annular stopper having an opening and adapted to be seated in the small end of the neck, a metallic body fitted into the opening of said annular stopper and having a plurality of parallel fingers extending downward into the bottle, a cone larger in diameter than the distance between said fingers bearing against their inner sides, means for supporting said cone inside of said bottl at a predetermined distance from said annular stopper, and means for changing the position of the cone relative to the ends of said fingers after the closure has been inserted into the tapering neck whereby the cone will cause the ends of the fingers to spread out inside of the tapering neck to permit drawing the annular stopper more tightly into the bottle.

8. A closure for a bottle having a neck comprising, in combination, an annular stopper having an opening and adapted to be seated in the mouth of a bottle, a metallic body fitted into the opening of said annular stopper and having a plurality of spring fingers extending downward into the bottle, a cone bearing against the sides of said fingers, means for supporting said cone inside of said bottle at a predetermined distance from said annular stopper, and means for changing the position of the cone relative to the ends of said fingers whereby the cone will cause the ends of the fingers to be bent apart inside of the bottle below the neck thus preventing the annular stopper from being drawn out of the mouth of the bottle.

9. A closure for a bottle having a neck comprising, in combination, an annular stopper having an opening and adapted to be seated in the mouth of a bottle, a metallic body fitted into the opening of said annular stopper and having a plurality of fingers extending downward into the bottle, a cone bearing against the sides of said fingers, a threaded stud bearing against said metallic body for supporting said cone inside of said bottle at a predetermined distance from said annular stopper, and means for changing the position of the cone relative to the ends of said fingers by turning said stud whereby the cone will cause the ends of the fingers to spread out inside of the bottle below the neck thus preventing the annular stopper from being drawn out of the mouth of the bottle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 700,043 Heard May 13, 1902 735,402 North Aug. 4, 1903 998,352 Kublin July 18, 1911 1,169,691 St. Elmo Jan. 25, 1916 1,416,278 Furman May 16, 1922 1,953,161 Geddes Apr. 3, 1934 2,070,096 Smith Feb. 9, 1937 2,105,618 Silva Jan. 18, 1938 2,210,993 Weather-head, Jr. Aug. 13, 1940 2,333,952 Pollifronte Nov. 9, 1943 

